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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: August 21, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. _ ~' r , <br />SUBJECT: Approval of Orange County's School Construction Standards <br />DEPARTMENT: Budget PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Attachment 1. April 30, 2007 School <br />Construction Standards <br />Attachment 2. Minutes April 30, 2007 <br />Joint Meeting of County <br />Commissioners, Chapel <br />Hill Carrboro City Schools <br />Board of Education and <br />Orange County Schools <br />Board of Education <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Donna Coffey, (919) 245-2151 <br />PURPOSE: To approve Orange County's School Construction Standards. <br />BACKGROUND: Orange County's current elementary and middle school construction <br />standards have been in place since 1996, and its high school standards since 1999. While these <br />standards have served as a model for many schools constructed in both the Chapel Hill- <br />Carrboro City and the Orange County Schools, it has become increasingly difficult to adhere to <br />the standards due to economic factors such as rising construction costs as well as educational <br />reforms such as changes in state mandated class sizes for grades kindergarten through third. In <br />addition, land use regulations and environmental considerations that incorporate sustainable <br />building components and smart growth elements are becoming more prevalent in the <br />construction industry. Two separate School Facilities Task Forces, convened in 2000 and 2002, <br />identified a number of standards that required clarification and/or updating (e.g. baseline <br />estimates for per square foot cost, an appropriate inflation factor, percentage of project budget <br />that should be set aside for contingency, etc.). To that end, the Boards of County <br />Commissioners and Education recognized the need to update and refine Orange County's <br />current School Construction Standards, and last year requested that the School/County <br />Collaboration Work Group review existing School Construction Standards with the intent of <br />bringing them more in line with today's practices, regulations, and construction market. <br />At the time that Orange Commissioners adopted the County's existing School Construction <br />Standards, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) had Facilities <br />Standards in place that established minimum construction criteria for individual school districts <br />to adhere to when they constructed new facilities or renovated older ones. Since that time, the <br />